Disney markets 'The Princess and the Frog'

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- First rule of movie marketing: With a hard sell, sell the faithful first.

So it was with the Walt Disney Co., which on Thursday used a gathering of thousands of loyal Disney fans to unveil "The Princess and the Frog," perhaps the studio's riskiest movie in years.

Facing an enthusiastic crowd at the Anaheim Convention Center, many of them sporting Mickey T-shirts, Walt Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger used the assembly of devoted followers to screen a major portion of "The Princess and the Frog" in hopes of building anticipation for a film that marks the studio's return to hand-drawn animation.

The film and its subject matter -- a contemporary twist on the fairy tale of a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again -- are reminiscent of classic Disney animation tales of yore. Indeed, the movie adds another tiara-wearing princess -- and the first African-American -- to a lineage of cinematic royalty that dates back to 1937 with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Iger took the stage at the start of Disney's D23 Expo, where attendees posed for photographs near a glass and iron replica of Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, sat for tea with the Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's noir interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland," and played a video console version of the "Toy Story Midway Mania" theme park attraction. The so-called Expo is conceived as sort of an in-house Comic-Con, the annual jamboree for comic book devotees that has mushroomed into a marketing bonanza for the entertainment industry, to whip up enthusiasm for upcoming Disney's products.

"Nowhere do we shine more brightly than in classic Disney animation," said Iger to applause, as he announced the 30-minute screening, adding. "Promise me you'll go see the rest when it opens."

Extracting such an assurance from hard-core Disney fans might not be difficult. But with the wider public, "Princess and the Frog" presents several obstacles that the studio has been working hard to overcome. Disney in 2004 abandoned the painstaking hand-drawn art form it popularized after a string of box office disappointments including "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," "Treasure Planet" and "Home on the Range." At the time, executives felt audiences preferred the new three-dimensional computer-rendered animation over the old flat, 2-D fare. Pixar Animation's creative guru, John Lasseter, who had been trained by longtime Disney animators, worked to revive the tradition when he assumed oversight of Walt Disney Animation Studios following the 2006 acquisition of Pixar.

Animation veterans say contemporary viewers, who are accustomed to watching crudely-drawn shows such as Comedy Central's "South Park" on television, lushly animated classics like "Cinderella" on DVD, and more stylized computer-rendered offerings like "Up" in theaters, are indifferent to the filmmaker's chosen palette.

"If it's good story-telling, the medium becomes invisible to the audience," said Bonnie Arnold, a producer whose credits include Pixar Animation's "Toy Story," Disney's "Tarzan" and DreamWorks Animation's "Over the Hedge." In recent years ever-more sophisticated computer-generated animation has become the de facto norm for animated films, supplanting the older hand-drawn form.

"Audiences are attracted to great stories and great characters. It's always been the case and always will be the case," Cook said. "I've never head a child ever tell a parent, 'I'm not going to go to that, that was hand-drawn.' " Disney executives frequently point to the success of the surprise 2002 hit, "Lilo & Stitch," which generated $273 million in worldwide ticket sales, as proof that audiences haven't tired of traditional animation as long as audience's find the story engaging.

Instead, a more difficult challenge for Disney and "Princess and the Frog" may rest in the movie's title: The age at which children outgrow the happily-ever-after world of princess has gotten younger and younger.

Ten-year-old Alyssa Vis, who traveled to D23 with her grandmother, Sandy Cornett, from Saskatchewan, Canada, said she has collected signatures of all the Disney princesses from the theme parks. But these days, they hold less appeal to her than classic characters.

"I like them," Vis said. "But if I have a chance to see them or Mickey and Donald, I'd see the other Disney characters."

Still, Vis was enchanted by the snippet of "Princess and the Frog." "It was really good," she said. "I can't wait to see it now."

Not taking chances, Disney plans a promotional blitzkrieg that will put "The Princess and the Frog" on every child's radar.

The Walt Disney Studios will take the unprecedented step of opening the gates of its Burbank lot at Thanksgiving, so audiences can watch the movie on the same lot where the studio filmed such classics as "Mary Poppins" and more recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" blockbusters. In Los Angeles and at the historic Ziegfeld Theater in New York City, Disney will stage an "extravaganza" featuring all nine Disney princesses.

All of these special screenings occur ahead of the film's scheduled opening nationwide Dec. 11.